A pair of Supreme Court rulings announced Thursday shocked Conservative activists and moneyed interests who thought the majority of justices would vote to roll back Americans’ access to health care and housing.
In the most prominent decision announced on the day, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the left flank of the court in upholding a key section of the Affordable Care Act. The move deemed it legal for the federal government to provide subsidies to millions of Americans enrolled in “Obamacare” even if they live in a state that didn’t set up its own health insurance marketplace under the law.
In the case, King v. Burwell, a group of plaintiffs backed by the conservative American Enterprise Institute, tried to exploit the law’s vague language to contend that it was unlawful for Americans living in the 34 states that opted out of creating a health insurance exchange to receive federal support to purchase a plan.
The court, however, rejected the plaintiff’s technicality argument that would have upended the law.
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” the justices in the majority opinion wrote.
Writing for the dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia claimed that the ruling was “unheard of” and that the high court was going out of its way to preserve law.
“Under all the usual rules of interpretation, in short, the Government should lose this case. But normal rules of interpretation seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved,” he said.
“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare,” the hyper-conservative Justice added.
Following the decision, President Obama spoke to reporters, announcing, “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
“Today is a victory for hardworking Americans all across this country whose lives will continue to become more secure in a changing economy because of this law,” he added.
In a second decision issued on Thursday, the court preserved a legal avenue to challenge housing discrimination.
Under the Fair Housing Act, civil rights groups and the Justice Department have been able to sue financial institutions to alter their lending and rental practices if data shows they result in minorities being marginalized in housing—even if those practices are not overtly or deliberately racist.
Banks, insurance companies, and home builders have long fought to narrow the scope of the Civil Rights era law. This was the first challenge they were able to bring before the Supreme Court.
But despite the Roberts’ court having a history of siding with big businesses, Justice Kennedy dissented from the court’s Conservative bloc Thursday, and joined Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagen, and Stephen Breyer in upholding the tool for minority home-seekers.
“The Court acknowledges the Fair Housing Act’s continuing role in moving the nation toward a more integrated society,” Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.
